IBM Linear Tape File System (LTFS) Enterprise Edition (EE) combines the ease of use of LTFS with the scalability, manageability, and performance of IBM General Parallel File System (GPFS), an industry leader in high availability and high input/output (I/O) capabilities. LTFS EE extends GPFS abilities with simplified tape administration and relieves the complexity of transferring data from tiered disk storage to tape. The ability to move beyond simply adding storage to optimize and streamline data management and reduce storage infrastructure costs are excellent benefits for businesses of any size.

As needs for capacity, I/O, and data availability grow, LTFS EE allows easy expansion of the tape tier of GPFS . The ability to add media and provision it in the LTFS pool of GPFS allows expanded archive capacity with minimal downtime, and without impacting the availability of data already in the pool. Performance of the tape drives and of the LTFS EE servers are load balanced by the LTFS EE software to ensure the highest possible data rate and data availability.

LTFS EE offers the following benefits:

• Significantly lower total cost of retaining infrequently accessed data  over a long retention period
• Cost-effective archiving of digital assets that can be referenced and monetized for years to come
• The ability to create storage tiers with inexpensive tape rather than costly disk storage
• A reduction in the high power, cooling, floor space, and administration costs associated with disk storage

Find out more here.